139. How I Redefined Success After Achieving Financial Freedom | Money Mindset Lessons at 40

If you've ever felt like reaching financial freedom would automatically bring peace, only to realize you're still battling comparison, hustle culture, and the pressure to always be doing more, you're not alone.

In this deeply personal birthday episode, Violeta reflects on turning 40 and the lessons she's carrying into the next decade of her life. While celebrating a milestone in Mérida, Mexico with her family, she shares how achieving financial freedom hasn't eliminated old habits—it has simply revealed new opportunities to redefine what success truly means.

Drawing from her experiences as a real estate investor, entrepreneur, and creator of Money Chisme, Violeta opens up about leaving behind the constant pressure of social media, letting go of unrealistic timelines, and embracing a slower, more intentional way of living. She explains why building wealth isn't just about reaching financial milestones, but about creating a life that aligns with your values, gives you freedom, and allows you to be fully present for the people who matter most.

Throughout the episode, she encourages listeners to stop measuring success against someone else's journey. Whether your goals take longer than expected, your business grows more slowly, or your priorities shift over time, your path is still valid. Violeta also shares her vision for the future—from investing in Mexico and supporting Latina entrepreneurs to giving back through affordable housing and community impact.

We cover:

• Why financial freedom doesn't automatically free you from hustle culture
• How social media can quietly steal the freedom you've worked so hard to build
• Why slowing down is one of the greatest forms of success
• The importance of defining success on your own terms instead of following someone else's timeline
• How infertility, surrogacy, and life circumstances changed Violeta's investing journey
• Why being work-optional is a bigger win than chasing arbitrary millionaire milestones
• How she's reimagining Money Chisme to prioritize impact over endless growth
• Why intentional business building creates more freedom than constant scaling
• The mindset shifts she's leaving behind as she enters her 40s
• Her plans to become an angel investor supporting Latina entrepreneurs
• Why affordable housing and ethical real estate investing have become central to her mission
• Her vision for investing in both the United States and Mexico while creating a life rooted in flexibility, family, and purpose
• How reflecting on your own definition of success can help you build a richer life—not just a bigger bank account

This episode is a reminder that wealth isn't measured only by your net worth—it's measured by the life you're able to create. Financial freedom isn't the finish line; it's the opportunity to live more intentionally, pursue what truly matters, and build a legacy that extends far beyond money. Your timeline doesn't have to look like anyone else's to be successful.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Free Latinas in Real Estate Community
• Real Estate Chisme Podcast
• Sign up for the Money Chisme Newsletter
• Cash Libre by Lucy (pre-order)

Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hola, hola, hola. Welcome to another episode of the Money Tease My Podcast. Live from Mérida, Mexico, I am doing this podcast. And if you're watching me on YouTube, aquí and the Fodonga, I'm over here just in my pajamas, just you know, relaxing because it's kind of going on brand with what I am talking about in this episode. Because it is my birthday tomorrow, well, last week or a few weeks ago, depending when this episode comes out, and I turn 40, like the big 4-0, and I've been just like reflecting and thinking about life and thinking about what I want to accomplish this next decade. And I want to share that with y'all. You know, I didn't plan to make an episode over it because you know, like I don't really celebrate my birthdays like that, but I've decided to like start celebrating my birthdays, especially this one, because it's a big milestone. And I think I'm just like feeling the vibe of just being on vacation. I came over here to Mirada and uh I brought my family, you know, my husband, my stepson, my daughter, and I have my mom and my sister with me. So we've been just like enjoying almost a week here, and I've just been like, you know, if you haven't been to Mirada, it's more of a slower-paced life over here. It's very chill, it's very calm, it's very safe, but it is very hot. And even, you know, being from Texas, it's super hot. And even in California, like it's just, I don't know, it's always surprises me kind of going on a side tangent, but it always surprises me how different heats exist. But I wanted to talk about how my mindset is shifting with now that I am more optional, financially free, technically, and all that stuff. How sometimes you still get pulled back into things that don't align with that. And so I want to share some of the things about that. I want to talk about what I'm leaving behind in my 30s, thing, old mindsets, old things that I was working on that you know I struggled with, and now what I'm building in this next decade. So I want to share that with you. And I took some time to kind of like reflect and want to talk about first on how, even though now I'm financially free and all that, I still struggle with trying to live the fast-paced life, especially with social media, because social media it is a trap, and it's crazy because you'll build financial freedom and maybe you build your own business and you are buying back your time, but all social media is a freaking trap, and I felt in that trap as well. Even here, con que you know, I'm on vacation, and the first thing I thought of is like, oh, let me think of what content I can create while on vacation. Like the whole point that I'm here is to just be away from work and enjoy life and be present. And even now I'm going a little bit against that because I'm recording this podcast episode, but uh I, you know, we have some downtime, everybody's asleep, everyone's napping, and I'm feeling creative, right? So that's kind of different of doing it in the spur of the moment because I didn't feel pressured to record this episode or even vestirme, right? Like again on YouTube, you can see Toy Mi Bata that says it's a pink shirt dress that it just says mom on it, well, mama on it, and no mi pinta ni nada because I'm just chilling. Like I am done like forcing myself to show up and be in. Of course, I do want to look professional and all that stuff, but I also want to be like do some videos where I'm just like chilling and everything and show that you know, no tienes que put together all the freaking time to accomplish your goals and all that. And that is one thing with social media that I fell into the trap because like si no stoy, you know, looking like professional because I mean, unfortunately, that's kind of the state of mind of people que si no stay in a business suit, then you know, you're not taken seriously and all that. And I kind of want to like go against the grain with that and show that like I mean, I'm being you know, like you don't have to be tollonga all the time, but like it's okay to let down your hair and just make a video, make a podcast or whatever I see, just authentically, just chill to show that you know, I see like I'm living the life too. And I was feeling that pressure of being on social media, toda si, all like pintada and all that stuff, and that goes against what I'm building, right? The whole point of building financial freedom and buying back my time, and so I could relax, I could breathe, I don't have to feel that pressure to perform and all that. But Instagram me stab, like and TikTok now, like TikTok like changed after you know it got bought out and stuff. Like, it's been so hard to grow on there, you know. In Instagram también, like just recently I got a few followers, like but like it's just been a pain in the ass, and I can't figure it out, and I'm not alone in feeling this way. I know a few in my circle that are also struggling with this, and it just had this change, and we're struggling with balancing, growing businesses, showing up and all that, but Instagram and social media, all that wants you to be here 24-7. Like, it's there's so much for owning your own time when these social medias owning your time again. And so I found myself just every day thinking of like, okay, what I gotta do for social media, I gotta post this. How can I attract my like people and and all that? And like it's counter to what I believe in and what I've built. Like, I don't want to live my life, you know, stuck and forcing myself to show up on social media 24-7 and all this stuff. Like, that's not the point of me building the life I'm living. And so I've decided that I'm still gonna, you know, like show up, but I'm gonna show up como cuando me da la gana, right? And how I want to easily, if it goes, if it goes. I'm focusing more now on like long-form content because the reality is that the people that you attract on social media, they'll follow you, right? It's motivational, whatever. But the people that you want to work with, you attract them a different way, and that's what I've been learning. You know, doing my blogs more, being more intentional with that, which awesome thing is that I got accepted into the ads, Google ads. So, yay! So far I've made I think like 30 cents, but you know, I voy, I voy a little, poco a poco, and so that's what I'm doing. And well, I guess that could be a leaving behind that mindset of showing up 24-7 on social media and all this craziness, and what I'm taking into my 40s is being more intentional and leaving that craziness with social media behind. I still want to show up because I do like social media and I like connecting, especially with TikTok and all that stuff. But oh, like they're just the algorithms is just not made for someone that is posting once a day or every other day or whatever. They want you to be there like all the time and they want clickbait content and they want rage bait. And I felt like you know, I I tested it a few times and I noticed some of those posts when you go negative first, like it helps. And so I'm trying to navigate that how I can still attract people, but not be so clickbaiting and everything, because at the end of the day, like, oh, I do want to be shown and all that, and people to find me because what's the point? I'm talking talking out into the void if nobody's listening, if nobody's finding my videos or my pages or anything like that. So trying to balance that out a little bit more. So that's what I'm leaving behind with as far as social media and also the different types of mindset in regards to success. So I've been investing for over 10 years now, and I'm gonna be honest with you, like I felt like a little bit of what can I say, maybe disappointment, maybe in myself, because I thought after 10 years I would have been further along, and I'll see other people that they've been investing for less or around the same time, and they got like a larger portfolio or whatever. And I felt like dang, like I really wasted time. Like I still deal with that as well. And I had to realize, like, no, I still accomplished a lot of things, right? Like I'm work optional, I was able to have my daughter, that's another thing. And I have to realize that life threw more different things my way that set me back because that rental income, the cash flow, that equity that I had in those properties that could have grown my portfolio. I had to use that for infertility treatments and to and to do this surrogacy journey, right? That cost me like 140, 150K to have my daughter. And so I have to tell that to myself. It's like, you know, my journey was different. I still accomplished my goals and I'm still doing well, right? Like these properties are doing good, they're paying for some things and whatever, and I'm still financially free. Now we're just working on my husband to be, he's still work optional, right? We got some income that really pays all our bills. We reduced a lot of our expenses, and I talk about that in other episodes, so I'm not gonna go into detail here. But like I had to take a step back and realize, like, you know what? Like, even though I've been investing in 10 years, and yeah, my portfolio should look or again, there goes my mindset again. The bad mindset of like the it should, I was like, it could have looked a little bit different, but my journey was different. I still accomplished a lot of my goals. I still was able to get out of the military, I still was able to not have to work. The initial goal was to not work for six months, and now I it's been a year and I haven't worked and don't plan to go back to work. Now I can focus on building money achievement and all that. So I was able to do that. I get to be present with my daughter. I still could provide for her, I get to provide her with experiences like coming to Mexico and spending a week here, helping out my family, and you know, all these things. So my success looks different, and that's my success. So I think that's another thing that you know I would tell others as well who might be in this mindset because you'll see it on again. There goes social media, be like, oh, you know, I retired at 40, or I'm a millionaire at 35 and all that stuff. And yeah, my goal was to become a millionaire by 40. I I had the same mindset, and I'm not a millionaire yet. I'm on the path, it's not at the timeline that I originally put, but I still accomplished a lot of things where I'm able to step away from the rat race. I don't have to burn myself out. I can breathe now, I can enjoy life. And so those are the things that I would want y'all to take away is to really reflect on the actual goals and what success means to you and how it can look like. Yes, maybe you don't retire by age 40, maybe you don't become a millionaire at age 35 or whatever, but maybe you accomplish other things. So yeah, that's another thing that I am leaving behind. And just also like the way I move with money cheese me. Like, I've been doing this again three, I think we're on our fourth year. I think I turned four years. I need to look, but I think it's four years now that I've built Money Cheese Me. I started the podcast and then it just went all over the place, and now I'm focusing on teaching real estate, and so that's another thing that I've been reflecting on and kind of like feeling like I was behind and everything, but I'm looking at it and I'm approaching 7,500 downloads. I should hit that by the end of this month. And like I never thought about that. I was and my weekly downloads have skyrocketed, and now with real estate cheese, that one's growing fast too. And YouTube is growing, Google Ads accepted me. So all of that is you know, I'm making steps towards it. And again, I'm not looking to be attached to money cheese, right? Like, I don't want this to become a trap for me where I'm like forced to do episodes where I'm forced to like sell on here because I rely on the income. Like, no, I want to focus my time on teaching, providing resources, but also on my own time, right? Like, I don't want to be tied down with this because again, that wasn't the point of this. I don't want to be forced to have to get on here and be like, hey, you know, buy this course or this or that or whatever. I want to be intentional, I do want to teach people, I do want to have like one-on-ones, but like I don't want to be forced to have like, dang, I gotta get 10 clients this month because you know I can't pay my bills or my business or whatever. The goal with money achievement has always been like to help the community give more than what I receive. And definitely, I do obviously do want to make money because I do have to pay some bills, but oh, I'm not trying to build a multimillionaire business with money achievement, right? If it happens, that's awesome. But the real goal is that I want to put resources out there, represent, and also be there for those who might need coaching or resources, workshops and stuff. And so that's kind of like what I'm navigating recently on my business goals as well. Because again, I'm not trying to become this tied down and be a multimillion dollar business. I think it would just take so much. I definitely want to make money because I have people that I need to pay, like my editor for this podcast, and obviously hosting and all that stuff and resources and stuff. So, like, yes, I do want to make money, but I also I want to be intentional with this business because I've seen some people who build similar types of businesses, like coaching and stuff like that, and they're just so relying on that income that it stresses them out, and you know, like, and that's what I don't want. I don't want to be tied up. I want this to continue to be fun, be a resource, and be there for Latinas who want to invest in real estate and so on, so and a network, and also, of course, to build a community and all that. So that's my goals with Money Cheese Mith. So I'm definitely shifting a little bit my mindset even with my business. Like, I don't want to be chained to my business either, so I don't want to fall into that trap. Another thing that I am working towards now in this next decade, now that I'm able to breathe, I got out of that scarcity mindset of the survival mode, and I still obviously want to continue building more financial freedom so that way I'm not relying just on rental income. Of course, money cheese is a part of that, but I also want to diversify and also I want to give back. And I've been talking to an amiga, if y'all know her, is Lucy, and we've been just talking about her because she's an angel investor and she's been talking to me about that. So, one of the goals for next year is to help other Latinas with their businesses through funding, right? And so, my goal is to become an angel investor next year. So, learning about that, how that works and all that. So, that is something I'm going into this next decade. You know, I've built financial freedom, I'm still building wealth through my investments and that, so that's still going there. But I also want to start pouring back into the community, and she talks about this in her book, Cash Libre It. I'll link it down below. You can pre-order it. She sent me early access to it, and I loved it. You could check, I'll I'll put all the links down below. You could go pre-order the Audible version. I think it gets released in October. Super excited! But that book, like, let me tell you, is gonna be awesome. It's a book for the hard charger mujer that is, you know, we did all the things, we got our degree, or maybe you just have a good job or whatever, but something's just not clicking still financially, and she goes through all of that. And one of the things that I really love about that her book is how she talks about pouring back into our community. Once you get financially stable, you are set and you're thriving. Now it's time to pour back into our communities. And angel investing is one way that I'm looking to do, and also, and I talk about it with my real estate investing content, is ensuring that the communities that I invest in, the properties, it starts with my own properties, is making sure that they're safe and keeping them affordable, right? But I'm going to be more intentional in going out there and working with organizations. I've reached out to a few. I think I just gotta go in person. You know, some of these organizations they don't answer emails. So trying to figure out how I can get involved in these communities, what communities, what organizations, nonprofits or whatever I need to work with to kind of make a bigger impact, just taking it a step above just my own properties. Now I want to focus like, okay, what can I, how can I help to advocate for these communities? Because I see it in these low-income communities, they're in these houses that are run down, that are owned by slum lords. And matter of fact, kind of side note, I went to this landlord training in one of the cities that I have investment properties in. And one of the things he said was that out of the houses that you'll see out there that are distressed, that are breaking down, like two-thirds of them are from investors, and a lot of them are out of state investors because all they want is to nickel and dime, and they don't care what's going on, and they'll just let maintenance and all that stuff because they just want the money, they want to squeeze out every bit, and they don't maintain these properties, and then once they get to a certain point, then they just sell them, and then here comes another investor, fixes it up just enough, and so on. And so it really opened my eyes. I mean, I obviously knew, but I think I didn't realize to how big of an extent the issue was, and so now I definitely want to focus that in this next decade. I want to make a difference, I want to see what I can do, who can I connect with so that way we can come together and do better and do better impact. Because I mean, you've seen you've been seeing it with how our community has been suffering lately, and it's an important thing. And if I could do that with housing, that's one less thing. And then, of course, then giving back to our community, finding ways, maybe donating more to certain organizations to help our communities, especially those that have been taken by ICE and so forth. So, all of that, I'm figuring out okay, how can I help? Also aware that I can't help everything, right? I can't be part of everything, so I want to make sure that I also am intentional with my time and my resources because I don't have a limit of time and resources, and I have to understand that I can't do everything, but I do want to do something. So I'm still in the process of figuring out how much I can be involved. Like, yeah, I could go maybe to some events and and so on, and how much can I donate and to whom and and all that. So that's still in the works, but that's the goal for this next decade. And then other than that, is you know, still continuing to focus on creating more opportunities, being out there, uplifting our voices through my podcast and all that. So yeah, it's just a lot that I've been reflecting on and my goals. And of course, I still want to, as far as myself, I'm still investing. It's still gonna continue. I have some side quests, I want to say, with some other investors that we're kind of thinking of grouping together to go on a little adventure with investing on certain properties geared towards veterans because I am a veteran and they're veterans. This is my real estate investing group for veterans that I'm in, and we really want to give back to veterans. So that's kind of like a side quest we're researching right now. So that's another thing that we're looking at. So growing that another reason I'm here in Merida was because I want to live the life. I also went out to look at some properties, some lots, some terrenos to see how I like them. And I think so far we're leaning towards the yes, so that's something that we're gonna discuss. And so I am looking to start investing in Mexico as well. So one is going to be here because I really love the Yucatan area and stuff, and another one is going to be in my birthplace, right? Monterrey, and buying there, and so I'm talking to my tia over there, and I gotta set up my bank account and all that stuff, which Lucy again she held this workshop. And matter of fact, side note, I just remembered that I'm supposed to go leave a review, so I'm gonna make sure after this podcast I do that because I forgot. But yeah, if she ever hosts workshops, a lot of them are free. Make sure you sign up for them because she drops some gems in there, and so she got me on that path. So now I think the next step is starting a bank account, which I already talked to my Tia and all that stuff. So me and my Tia over here in Monterey, we're going to start looking for investments, properties. Goal is for her to be my eyes and ears. She knows the ins and out of Monterey and stuff, and she knows some things because I want to buy a property over there too. Because one, it's my birthplace, that's where a lot of my family is. And two, my parents and my family come to Monterey a lot for like healthcare and things like that. So I want to have a place for them to go and for me to go, because one of my goals is to live a hybrid life of being in the US for most of the year and then over here in Mexico for months at a time, and let my daughter grow up with you know the culture. But yeah, those are basically my reflections, I guess, from my birthday. But other than that, I think I rented a lot. I went on a side tangent. This was mostly just kind of like a birthday podcast episode. Let me know your thoughts, and you could always reach out to me. If you read my newsletters, you could always respond to them, drop comments wherever you're listening or or watching or whatever. DM me on Instagram. And don't forget that I do have my community over there in school. I'll drop the link down below, trying to grow that so that way we could all build well together with real estate. So if that's been something that you've been wanting to do, make sure you check that out. I'm growing it. I want to add more resources there and all that, so it's free to join. And yeah, other than that, I will see you in the next episode. Bye.